Huge blow for Labour as Nigel Farage odds on to be next prime minister

Bookies make Nigel Farage odds-on to be the next prime minister. And the Reform UK leader could snatch the keys to Downing Street as early as 2027.

The insurgent political party is now 10/11 to win the most seats at the next general election as the public goes cold on Labour and warms to a promise of leading Britain on "The Next Step". Mr Farage said he expects a general election to be called in 2027 but it is far likelier to take place in 2029, according to the latest odds.

Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: “Labour’s bad week has played into Reform’s hands. The Government won’t be waving the white flag, but the odds suggest that they have got a lot to do to win back support from Farage and Co.”

The bombshell snapshot comes after a disastrous reshuffle by Sir Keir Starmer did little to quell accusations his government in stuck in a doom loop of perpetual crisis having failed on a promise to stop the small boat migration crisis and seen deputy leader Angela Rayner quit in disgrace over her failure to pay the correct tax due on a seaside des res.

The Winter Fuel Payment shambles, farm inheritance tax fiasco, and National Insurance and wage tax raids on business have made this one of the most unpopular administrations in living memory.

According to pollsters YouGov less than one quarter of Britons have a positive opinion of the prime minister, while 68% see him unfavourably, leaving the Labour leader with a net approval rating of -44 after just one year in office.

But the issue that most resonates with voters is illegal immigration, meaning Downing Street beckons for Mr Farage, 61, who was formerly the leader of UKIP and the Brexit Party, who spent 30 years in the political wilderness until the seismic EU referendum in 2016.

It means the former City trader, first elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and re-elected in 2004, 2009 and 2014, could become prime minister with an outright majority.

Reform, a right-wing populist political party formed in 2018, now has around 240,000 fully paid up members after Mr Farage offered under 25s cut-price membership in a brazen attempt to lead “the largest political movement in the country” into government. And it appears to be working.

Recent analysis by Electoral Calculus puts Reform on 30.4% of the vote, winning 362 seats, giving the party a 74-seat majority in the Commons, and forever reshaping British politics.

Labour would see its MPs culled from 412 to 136, while the Tories would effectively be wiped out with just 22 seats.

Speaking about the unresolved issue that dominates the political landscape, Mr Farage said: “Mass immigration has inflicted a massive strain on our public services, a surge in crime, a worsening housing crisis and led to fewer British people in work. Those who do pay their taxes are left carrying the burden of supporting those who don’t.

“The fundamental duties of any government are to protect its people, improve their lives – and put them first. Politicians work for the people, not the other way round. This principle has been lost. The UK can no longer be treated like a charity for the rest of the world: it is time we prioritised our people, our jobs and our culture.”